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Subject: Re: Open letter to prof. Irazoqui about the Braingames qualifier

Author: Marc van Hal

Date: 10:38:07 04/28/01

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On April 28, 2001 at 11:36:59, Jeroen Noomen wrote:

>Dear prof. Irazoqui,
>
>During the past few weeks all chess enthousiasts and chess computer fans were
>delighted to hear about the Braingames qualifier, to produce a ‘challenger’ to
>play Vladimir Kramnik in a serious match. Organisation was given to you, a
>pretty easy to understand decision as you have a lot of experience in organizing
>a chess computer tournament. I know you since several years as a fine person,
>unbiased and with a lot of understanding concerning chess programs. I always
>have been an admirer of your work, especially the famous Cadaques Tournament.
>
>Needless to say I was stunned to hear that Chess Tiger, currently one of the
>strongest chess programs, was not even invited to participate in this qualifier.
>I tried to get information about the ‘why’, but up till now nobody has given any
>specific argument why Chess Tiger could not play there. To exclude such a strong
>program is, of course, very strange (to say the least). Several people have
>asked me why Chess Tiger is not participating. I only could say ‘I don’t know,
>sorry’.
>
>Suppose there will be a qualifying event amongst human players to bring about a
>new challenger for Kramnik. Wouldn’t it be very strange if the organisers of
>such an event would say to Anand ‘sorry, you can’t compete’? Nobody would
>understand that. As in this case nobody understands your decision why you
>refrain from letting Chess Tiger play in these qualification matches. Therefore
>I want to ask you, publicly through this letter, to clarify matters and to
>present the chess enthousiasts the answers on the following questions:
>
>1. Why wasn’t Chess Tiger invited to this qualifier?
>2. Why did the Chess Tiger team only hear about this qualifier some weeks before
>the event started?
>3. Why did you refuse to let Chess Tiger play, even though the Tiger team very
>willingly cooperated to make the participation of Chess Tiger possible?
>4. Why didn’t you try to find a positive solution to this matter?
>5. Why did you keep on saying ‘no’, even when it became clear Chess Tiger could
>play under the conditions you wanted?
>6. Why did you refuse to believe that Chess Tiger could play under your
>conditions, the more because you haven’t checked this out yourself?
>7. Do you think it is fair to exclude very strong chess programs from such an
>event?
>8. What proposal was made to the IBM team: Could they play on their own
>hardware, or did they have to play on specified hardware?
>9. What was the reason IBM declined the offer?
>10. Knowing you as a fair person, unbiased and with great achievements for
>computer chess, can you now look into a mirror and say to yourself ‘I have been
>absolutely fair to all parties and I have been honest to all the other chess
>programmers who are not competing now’?
>11. I am pretty sure that deep inside you, you will not feel happy about this.
>And that you know that programs like Shredder and Chess Tiger should compete as
>well. Am I correct in stating this?
>12. Now there is a delay in the Fritz-Junior match, is there room for Chess
>Tiger in this event?
>
>I think everybody would appreciate it when you give a public statement and
>answer those questions in an honest way. Otherwise people will get the
>impression that this qualifier is a pre arranged event, that is not open to all
>the strongest chess programs, but only to some of them. It is up to you to
>clarify matters and to make clear why Chess Tiger is not playing here. I think
>you owe us an explanation.
>
>You made a clear mistake by excluding Chess Tiger from this event. That is my
>opinion and I know many people will agree with me. Still, making mistakes is
>human, it can happen to everybody. Truly great people are those people who admit
>they made a mistake and correct it. You are still able to correct this mistake,
>too. By allowing Chess Tiger to play in the qualifier.
>
>I ask you to give the answers to these questions, questions that many people are
>wondering about. And that you correct your mistake and let Chess Tiger play in
>the qualifier.
>
>Sincerely yours,
>
>Jeroen Noomen

Well as you know Jeroen, the chess world is everything but honest.
For one I never did get the credit I deserved.
And  many people try to keep it that way.
At least your team does get some suport, while I have to fight windmils like Don
Quichotte
I even could speak of a strange matter about Bagriov wich turned out realy
strange when you think about it.



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